Drew Tanaka's Troubles
by Erenelle
Summary: Drew Tanaka has always lived under the guise of a pretty, flirty, popular girl, even in the mortal world. But everyone's secrets come out eventually, and when hers do, it may result in a catastrophe. Just kidding. Aphrodite sends her on a quest "to find true love" because she's cheesy like that.
1. Drew Kicks Butt

_(Author's note: This is set after the war, forgetting that ToA exists._

 _Also, all the characters and settings belong to Rick Riordan.)_

It was a hot feeling. Almost painful. A weight in her stomach. An ache. A desire.

Love? Maybe. Even as an Aphrodite girl, she sometimes had trouble telling. She wasn't used to it being this strong, this...overpowering.

Even if it was love, Drew would never admit it.

It was all too familiar, too hard, too painful.

But no matter what she did, every time she saw that stupid face or heard that stupid voice, the feeling returned threefold.

And there it was again, that strong, mature voice that made her stomach hurt.

"Piper, you know I can win."

"Yeah, so think of it as a training session."

"What, so that I'll let you win? I don't think so."

"Oh, come on, Reyna. How will I ever learn if you just keep beating me?"

Reyna laughed, "Well, maybe if you actually kicked the ball..."

"I broke my toe, that's not my fault!"

"It's definitely your fault that you kicked the wall instead of the soccer ball."

"Jason moved it at the last second!"

Reyna laughed again, sending shivers through Drew's body.

The Aphrodite girl stood up. She should leave, it was creepy to stalk.

She headed to the forest, checking her freshly manicured nails to make sure her poisoned darts were intact. Maybe she could fight out her feelings.

No one saw her slip into the forest. Even if they had, they wouldn't recognize her. She was dressed in grey and black camouflage, wearing a black hoodie to hide her face. Not very fashionable at all.

A little way into the forest she found a monster: a hellhound.

It was kind of beautiful, in a ferocious, man-eating way.

Its slick black fur sucked in all the light around it, its black eyes seemed to hold the universe. Drew would have felt bad about killing it if it weren't for the blood that covered its mouth.

It growled when it saw her, preparing to spring.

Drew held out one hand, "Oh, you wouldn't want to hurt me, would you?" She applied layer after layer of charmspeak to her voice.

The hound relaxed slightly, but it mostly just looked confused.

"Poor, misunderstood monster," She wasn't sure why she didn't just kill it, but for whatever reason, she couldn't, "Everyone just sees you as evil, but you just want love, don't you?"

The hellhound nuzzled her outstretched hand, unsure.

"Don't worry, I won't-"

"What in Pluto are you doing?"

Drew jumped back in surprise, startling the hellhound into anger.

It was pouncing on her, when a figure leapt out of the forest and collided with it, knocking it off course.

The hound fell to the side, but it was only going to be down for a moment.

The figure turned around, and Drew's suspicions were confirmed.

It was Reyna.

Damn.

The older girl drew her gold sword, then turned to Drew. "You can't tame a hellhound, kid. Not unless you have certain...skills. This hound here? It was only pretending to listen to you."

Drew wasn't sure she agreed. "You don't know that. I was working on it, and it might have worked if you hadn't startled it."

Reyna shook her head, "I don't know who you are, but I've only ever met one tame hellhound, and she was tamed by a genius."

Oh, so Reyna didn't recognize her in this outfit. Convenient.

But the hellhound was getting up now, and Drew was pretty sure she had no hope of taming it anymore.

Reyna readied her sword and Drew pulled a small dagger out of her hoodie pocket.

The hellhound growled at Reyna. Drew crept around it, keeping light on her feet so as to make as little sound as possible.

Reyna saw her doing this and nodded.

She swung her sword expertly, drawing the dog's eyes toward it. She stabbed at the hound a couple times, but the wounds barely seemed to affect it. It kept trying to attack Reyna back, but she dodged and rolled with expert skill.

Drew had trouble not stopping to watch her, she was so skilled, so beautiful.

At one moment Reyna nodded, almost imperceptibly, and Drew jumped onto the hellhound's back. She walked across its spine with the balance of an acrobat, then, before the dog even noticed the weight on its back, she had straddled its neck. With a frown, she stabbed her fingers into its neck and shot the poisoned darts in.

The hellhound froze for a moment. Drew jumped off of its back, rolling back onto her feet. It disintegrated before it hit the ground.

"Drew...Tanaka?"

Ah. Her hood had fallen off. She smiled at Reyna' s shocked face, "That was great and all, but next time, please don't interfere with my taming."

Reyna nodded slowly, her look of shock slowly being replaced by one of grudging respect.

She turned to leave.

"Oh, and Reyna," Drew called after her, "Please don't tell anyone about this."

"I won't."

As soon as Reyna was out of sight, Drew sunk to the ground. That was the most she had ever said to her, and it wasn't even nice.


	2. Reyna Kicks Butt (I'm sensing a pattern)

Drew actively avoided Reyna after that incident. She couldn't stand to be around her anymore. It hurt too much.  
She ran a hand through her hair, checking her makeup in the mirror. Perfect. She looked exactly how an Aphrodite girl should.

She had dated half the people in this camp, why did this make her so uncomfortable?  
Maybe because she had only actually loved one person before, and he was dead. Maybe because she could still see her father's face, telling her she didn't deserve love.  
 _Don't think about that,_ She scolded herself. _But what if he was right?_

"Drew?" Piper was standing in the door of the cabin, looking confused.

Drew quickly rearranged her face to an spiteful frown. "What do you want?"

Piper didn't get angry, like she usually would. She just kept looking confused, "Reyna wants to talk to you?"

Oh no. Oh nononono this wasn't good.  
Drew barely kept her face from crumpling in fear. "Why?" The word came out a little smaller than she'd intended.

Piper didn't seem to notice this either, though. She was just staring off into space. "That's what I'm wondering. She's practicing in the arena."

Drew reluctantly headed for the arena, unconsciously fixing her hair as she walked.

In the arena, Reyna was caught in an energetic duel with Percy.  
She was wearing a purple Camp Jupiter t-shirt with the sleeves cut off.  
The difference in the two's fighting styles was obvious at a glance.  
Percy was mainly rolling, dodging, and stabbing with his smaller sword. Reyna, meanwhile, was moving her body much less, but her arms were a blur: blocking, slicing, deflecting, stabbing.  
Both were impressive, but Drew was a bit less awed by Percy. She was used to his style.

A few moments later, Reyna had a sword against Percy's neck.  
"Break?"

Percy laughed, "Sure."

Reyna glanced over at Drew, who was sitting on the top bench. They meet eyes for a moment, but Drew looked down.

Reyna collected her towel and bottle of water. Then she headed up to join her.

"Why are you avoiding me?" She asked, sitting down next to Drew.

The younger girl stared down at her diamond encrusted sandals. "I came, didn't I?"

"That doesn't answer my question."

Drew sighed, "What did you expect? That we would be friends? Surely you've been at this camp long enough to know that that's not how I work."

"I understand that, Drew. But you've been actively avoiding me. This is the first time I've even seen you since the forest."

"Hmm." Drew wasn't sure what she should say to that. _Oh, yeah, Reyna, I admit it. I'm in love with you and I hate it. That's why I'm avoiding you._  
It sounded ridiculous. There was no way she would say that.

"Okay," Reyna took a drink of water, "So you won't tell me. What about the forest? You're an excellent fighter, why would you hide that from everyone?"

"Fighting isn't an Aphrodite quality. I'm supposed to be a perfect,beautiful, heartbreaker. That's what being a daughter of Aphrodite means," Drew wasn't sure why she was telling Reyna this, but she couldn't help herself, "What else am I supposed to do? Be like Piper?"

"You could."

Drew snorted derisively. "She's too different. She has friends anyway, yes, but that's because she's kind. I'm not kind."

"But, I don't understand. Even with this act of yours, you don't have any friends. How would dropping the act change anything?"

"I don't have friends, but I have respect. I have fear. If I were to stop being the perfect girl, I would lose everything I've worked so hard to gain."

Reyna stared off into the distance for a moment, then she turned back to Drew.  
"What is so horrible about being different? Why do you want fear and respect so badly?"

"I..." Drew twisted a strand of her hair around her finger, "Why did you want to talk to me?"

Reyna sighed, "I want to understand you, Drew. And I'd like to help, if I can."

Drew's chest ached. This was too familiar.  
She stood up quickly. "You can't. No one can, so you may as well give up." She said roughly, "Now if you will excuse me." She walked away, barely keeping herself from breaking into a run.  
Reyna didn't follow her, and Drew didn't look back to see how she was reacting.


	3. Then There's Piper

_"Lee, don't..." Drew's voice was desperate, pleading._

 _"I have to, Drew."_

 _"No, you've done enough."_

 _Lee chuckled, "Are you worried about me, Princess? I didn't think we'd gotten that far."_

 _"Lee..."_

 _He hugged her, "I love you."_

 _Drew could sense somehow that this was the last time they were going to see each other. She buried her face in his shoulder._  
 _"I...I love you."_

 _Lee pulled away, "Goodbye, Princess."_

 _"Lee..." Drew reached out her hand, but he had already left. Never to return._

Drew sat up. On the outside she looked perfectly calm, but her insides were in a turmoil.  
It was Selena's fault. How could everyone call her a hero? She killed people! Good people, who didn't deserve to die. There was nothing heroic about that.  
And Lee...Drew couldn't bear to go through something like that again.  
He was the one person who had sought her out, pulled her messy past out of her, and loved her. She couldn't let that happen again.

"Drew?" Piper was watching her from her own bed, a mixture of concern and curiosity on her face.

Drew groaned and fell back onto her pillows. It was too late at night to handle Piper.

"Are you okay?" Piper asked, not taking the hint.

"Go to sleep, Piper. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You haven't been acting as heartless as usual."

"Thanks a lot."

"It's true."

"I'm pretty sure Reyna would disagree."

"Speaking of which, what were you two talking about?"

Drew sat up and looked Piper in the eyes, "Just because I'm 'not as heartless as normal' doesn't mean we're friends."

Piper sighed, "If you say so. But just so you know, I'm determined to change that."

"Good luck, honey."  
Drew lay back down to sleep.

A few moments later, a bed creaked, and Piper sat back up. "Oh my gods, I just figured it out!"

"What did you figure out?" Drew mumbled, just wanting her to shut up.

"You're in love!"

That woke Drew up. "What?"

"That's why you're changing all of a sudden. You're in love with someone."

"That doesn't mean anything. I've dated a million times, it didn't change me."

"Yes, yes. But look me in the eyes and tell me that you actually loved those people."

"Too tired," Drew said, yawning.

"Sure you are. So who is it?"

"No one, Piper. Now please shut up."

Piper ignored her. "Jason? No...Percy? I doubt it, he's been around way too long for this to be a new thing. Frank? No, he's too soft for you. Leo? Ha! Definitely not your type..."

"Will you please stop talking? I'm trying to sleep."

"...It's probably a Roman, cause they're the only new people. Unless...Nico? That would be sad, cause he's ga-oh." She lowered her voice, "It's Reyna, isn't it?"

Drew's heart skipped a beat. Stupid Aphrodite kids and their stupid ability to read hearts. "Don't be ridiculous."

Piper slipped off of her bed and crawled over to Drew's.  
"It's okay, Drew. I understand, you-"

"No, you don't understand! We're not friends, I'm not going to talk about my feelings, just leave me alone!" She yelled it, waking up half the other campers.

Piper recoiled, looking struck, and Drew threw off her covers and stormed out of the cabin, ignoring Piper's cry of apology.


	4. Mini Sleepover?

As soon as Drew reached a decent distance from the cabin, she stopped, leaning against a tree. What was she to do now? She couldn't go back, they were all probably still awake and talking about her. But the harpies were out, and they were going to smell her any time now. She couldn't go into the woods, it was too dangerous this late at night.

She thought about going out to the Roman camp, but it was outside the borders, and that, too, was dangerous.

Artemis might allow her to take refuge in her cabin, but it was dangerous to presume, and as an Aphrodite kid, she wasn't exactly a favorite of Artemis.

Near her was the Apollo cabin. They were a decent choice, since they liked her the most, owing to her connection with Lee Fletcher.

A harpy shrieked nearby.

Drew needed to make a decision, and quick.

A door opened in a cabin a bit of a distance away. A dark figure appeared in the light of the doorway, running towards her.

"The harpies are going to eat you if you stay out any longer," the voice hissed, grabbing Drew's arm, "Come to my cabin if you don't want to go back to your own."

Drew stumbled after them, in a daze. Who would want to help her of all people?

That question was answered when they neared the cabin. It was Zeus'.

That meant...

"Jason?"

"Shh." He pulled her into his cabin, then quickly closed the door.

She looked around. A huge statue of Zeus took up most of the room. In one corner was Jason's bed, placed where he wasn't in his father's sight.

She looked back at the boy, who had pulled off his hood, and was standing in a hoodie and pajama pants.

"Why did you do that?" Drew asked, "How did you even know I was out there?"

"Piper came over and told me," Jason admitted, "She said you and her had fought. And that you wouldn't want to come back to your own cabin."

"But why?"

"We don't want you to be eaten by harpies, Drew."

Drew sighed, "You know, technically a boy and a girl with different parentage aren't supposed to be alone in a cabin together."

"That's why I'm going to be sleeping in the Aphrodite cabin."

"Seriously?" Drew was beginning to feel slightly foolish for refusing to go back to her cabin.

"Well, it's either that or I call Percy over to join us."

Drew sighed and sat down at the foot of Zeus's statue. "I don't care."

"Percy, then. I'll be right back."

"One thing I don't understand," Percy was saying when he and Jason walked back into the cabin, "Why are we now friends with Drew Tanaka?"

"Dude, she's right there," Jason said.

Percy looked her over, then looked back to Jason, "That still doesn't answer my question..."

"Look, we're not friends, okay? She needed a place to stay for the night."

"But why can't she just stay in her-"

"We went over this. She's mad at Piper."

Drew was too tired to feel anything about the fact that they were talking about her as if she wasn't there.

She yawned.

Percy looked over at her, "I brought sleeping bags." He tossed her one.

After they all had set up their sleeping bags and lain down, Percy said, "So...Drew."

"Hmm?"

"I saw you talking to Reyna after our swordfight. Are you two friends?"

Drew groaned and turned away from him, "Not really."

"Then what were you talking about?" Percy asked, undeterred.

"How much we hate it when people mind our business."

"Really? That sounds like a friend topic to m-"

He was cut off by Jason kicking him, "She was being sarcastic."

"Oh. Right."

Drew chuckled despite herself.


	5. Aphrodite is a Butt (or Frank Kicks Butt

_"Drew, darling."_

 _Drew opened her eyes and saw that she was standing in a garden. Sitting on a marble bench was a woman. She was beautiful, with silky black hair tied in a braid and brown eyes. In one hand was a parasol, shading her from the sun._

 _"Mom?"_

 _"Yes, my dear. I am Aphrodite."_

 _"But why...?"_

 _"You have been struggling with love, recently, have you not?"_

 _"I..."_

 _"Don't be afraid to admit it, Drew. Eros hits everyone hard at least at one point in their lives."_

 _"But Mom, I can't do it again."_

 _"Of course you can. Your heart has been too hard of late. Love is the only thing that can fix it for you."_

 _"But...don't you believe in breaking hearts?"_

 _"Of course I do. It's quite fun. But Drew, the most fun is in allowing yourself the freedom to have your heart broken."_

 _"I don't understand."_

 _"You've been building a wall around your heart, believing that it will make you happier. But no one is happier when they don't allow themselves to live. To be hurt. Love is going to hurt, Drew dear. It takes you lower than you've ever been before. But it also takes you much, much higher. You just have to find someone who gives you more highs than lows."_

 _"But what if I don't want to go high?"_

 _"Don't be ridiculous. Now, I am going to send you on a quest-"_

 _"But-"_

 _"Don't interrupt. I am going to send you on a quest, and you had better find love by the end."_

 _"Are you...ordering me to love someone?"_

 _"Of course, I am. I'm Aphrodite. Now, goodnight, darling."_

 _"But..."_

The scene disappeared, and Drew found herself sitting up in the Zeus cabin.

Two dreams in one night. She groaned and lay back down.

A quest...she'd never been on a quest before, and honestly she never really wanted to. For some reason, danger and death weren't that appealing to her.

She absently wondered what the quest was going to be, but then she decided it didn't matter. Right now, she needed to get some sleep.

She woke up early the next morning. Jason was already gone, his bedroll neatly rolled up and put away. Percy, on the other hand, was lying on his side, drooling.

Drew shook her head in amusement, before turning to clean up her bed. She was having trouble processing all that had happened last night. Piper wanted to be her friend, Jason saved her from the harpies, and Aphrodite wanted her to go on a quest.

It didn't make sense. Each thing was odd enough by themselves, but why would they all be happening at once? Was Piper right? Had she changed that dramatically because of Reyna? Well, not just Reyna. Drew was pretty sure losing control of her cabin helped a bit too, both as a loosening of responsibility and as a check in her pride.

The door swung open, and Annabeth stepped inside. She glanced around, assessing the situation, then looked at Drew, "What are you doing in here?"

"It's...complicated," Drew finished rolling up the sleeping bag and tossed it down next to Percy, standing up, "I should go."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, "Did Percy stay here all night?"

"Yeah." Annabeth always made her feel uncomfortable. "You know, had to follow the opposite gender rule."

"But why?"

"I need to get back to my cabin. You can talk to Percy, when he wakes up," Drew hurried out of the cabin.

When she reached the Aphrodite cabin, she walked in quickly, not making eye contact with anyone, making a beeline for the shower, which, thankfully, was unoccupied.

Some breakfast, a couple classes, lunch, and a few more classes later, she still was avoiding everyone. Opting to train against a dummy rather than one of her own siblings.

Frank ended up helping her with archery, mostly because he was afraid otherwise she would take someone's eye out. Though, of course, he was way too nice to actually say that.

"No, you have to pull the string all the way back to your ear."

Drew tried. Funny how she could practice archery for so long and still fail so miserably.

"Fine, you can pull it back to your cheek. Then look along the line of the arrow, where the tip of the arrow is pointing is where it's going to fly." He adjusted her aim by a fraction of an inch. "Good. Now release the string."

Drew obeyed, but the arrow still landed a foot short of the target.

"Hmm. Maybe if you lifted the bow higher..."

"I don't think so," Drew dropped the bow and sat down in the grass. "I'm just not very good at aiming."

"But with practice-"

"Nah. I've practiced for years. But let's see you do it."

"Me?"

"Yeah, this is a practice session for everyone."

"Okay..." Frank picked up the bow and nocked an arrow onto it with the skill of a master. He raised it, and after only a moment to aim, he let it fly. It hit right on target.

Drew clapped. "The children if Apollo would be proud."

Frank blushed, "Well, I'm not sure I'm as good as they are."

"Definitely as good as, you might even be better, I'm not sure."

"Thanks."


	6. Drew Loses It

Dinner was awkward. Drew had to sit with the rest of her siblings because that was the rules.

She collected her food-barbecue again-from the dryad, and walked over to the fire.

"Aphrodite," she put her best pork in the fire. The smell that came back to her was vanilla and ginger, like chai tea. "Please don't do this to me, Mom."

She sighed, knowing there was almost no chance of Aphrodite actually listening to her.

She sat down at the very end of the table, staring down at her food.

"Are you okay?" Mitchell asked, "You've been ignoring us."

Drew glanced up at him and accidentally met eyes with Piper. She looked sad.

"I'm fine."

"Piper wouldn't tell us what you were fighting about last night," Lacy began.

Drew sighed heavily.

"But I was wondering," she continued, "where did you stay? You stormed out."

"Zeus cabin," Drew answered shortly.

It was only when Lacy looked shocked that Drew realized how that could be taken. "Nothing happened," she said hastily, "We weren't even alone."

The table lapsed into silence.

"Oi, Lacy!"

A boy called from the Hephaestus cabin called out.

Lacy turned pink, "Yes, Aaron?"

"Wanna go on a date this weekend?"

"Wha..." Lacy fumbled around for words, "S-sure."

"Great!" The camper turned back to fist-bump one of his brothers.

"Ooooh," the Aphrodite campers sang, "Lacy's got herself a boyfriend."

Lacy looked nervous, "What should I do, guys? This is my first date ever."

"Act cool," Drew advised, "Don't let him reduce you to a blushing mess."

"No, be yourself," Piper said, "If he doesn't like who you are then it won't work."

"Maybe, but definitely don't show him how much he means to you. Boys always use that against you."

Piper tensed, "Not always."

"Right, so if he is Mr. Perfect, he won't, but only one of those exists."

Drew didn't mean to let out her pent-up bitterness, but it just poured out of her.

"Oh! Maybe if you show up looking like a bedraggled rat and pouring out your emotions to your first love. Maybe if you hang over him like a sick puppy. Maybe if you somehow enchant everyone into loving you even though you're an immature, naive, whiny bitch, maybe then you can find true love your first try. Maybe then you'll have a happy ending!

Oh wait, I forgot, only Piper has that luck. Because for some reason she's Aphrodite's favorite, even though she is nothing like her mom, she never even tries to please her, and she hates her. For some reason, she even has her own mother under her spell, even though she never works for it!"

Drew had managed to keep her voice down through her whole spiel, so only her siblings were staring at her.

Drew's brief glance at Piper saw that shock and anger were mixing on her face.

After a small silence, Piper cleared her throat, "So, Lacy, don't throw yourself at his feet, but it's definitely okay to be vulnerable."

She pushed her empty plate away and left the table.

Drew felt sick to her stomach. She did it again. Lost her temper and yelled at Piper.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to her plate, not daring to look at her siblings' faces.

"You should talk to Piper," Mitchell said firmly.

"If you're actually sorry," Lacy added.

Drew nodded. "I will." She walked out to look for her.

The girl was sitting at the top of a small hill, staring up at the stars.

Drew swallowed the lump of fear that was growing in her throat and began her climb up the hill. When she was about ten feet away, she stopped.

"Piper?"

The girl's hand instinctively flew to her dagger, "What? Haven't you said everything yet?"

"I just..." Drew hesitated. She wasn't used to apologizing. "I wanted to say...sorry."

"What?"

"I didn't mean to say those things about you. I don't know what came over me..."

Piper looked down at her feet, visibly relaxing. "It doesn't matter whether you meant to say it or not, you still think it, don't you?"

"I..."

"You think it's somehow better if you just bottle up your anger?"

"Well..."

"It's not. I think you should let it out sometimes, otherwise, it will always come out in massive explosions like today."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I'm not sure. I guess it's my way of talking myself out of being mad at you."

"Oookay."

"Anyway, they're starting the campfire. We should get down there." Piper got to her feet and walked over to Drew, "I do appreciate your apology." And she walked away.

Drew stared after her. That was the weirdest girl she had ever met, and, being a demigod, she met a lot of weird people.


	7. Not Loving the 'Caring Mother' Vibe

The campfire was already well underway when Drew arrived. She sat at the very edge of the crowd, hoping not to draw attention to herself after her most recent outburst. Chiron was giving a speech about something, Drew didn't feel like paying attention. She saw Piper leaning against Jason, her eyes on Chiron. A few benches away, Reyna next to Nico and Will, her chin resting on her fist as she leaned in, listening intently. Lacy was holding hands with Aaron and whispering quietly, her smile lighting up her whole face. Drew was proud of her, she was finally living up to her Aphrodite origins.

Drew felt someone poking her. She looked up, everyone was staring at her.

"Sorry?"

Chiron looked disappointed. "Drew Tanaka, your mother wishes to make an announcement."

Drew's eyebrows shot up. "Wha-?"

A bright light exploded from the campfire, temporarily blinding everyone.

"Drew Tanaka, my beautiful daughter. Come to me, dear."

The light mostly died away, and Drew was able to open her eyes. Standing in the middle of the campfire was Aphrodite, wearing a simple white Grecian tunic, her arms extended toward Drew.

Reluctantly, Drew stepped over to the campfire, stopping a few feet away from her mother. "Hi."

"Hello, darling. I have a gift for you..." Here she paused for dramatic effect, "A quest!"

Everyone gasped, pretending to be surprised.

"Yes, you have been far too much of a loner recently. You need to get out more! I'll send someone to give you the details, don't forget to bring your cutest outfits, who knows who you'll meet." Aphrodite winked at Drew, then started to disappear. A second later she reappeared, "One more thing, you need two companions! One will be Reyna Ramirez. Tata!" She was gone.

As soon as Drew was sure she was gone for good, she walked away, scowling.

A few people called out to her, but she stormed past them. She couldn't believe Aphrodite had put her on the spot in front of everyone like that. She hadn't even given her an actual quest! And being so obvious about Reyna. That was the worst part. Drew had barely been able to keep from sinking to the ground in mortification. She marched on until she reached her hiding place.

Behind the Aphrodite Cabin was an outcropping of rocks. If you pushed on the right crevice, an opening to a cave appears. Drew had discovered this cave a few days after Lee died. She had hidden there for days until Selina had convinced her to come back out...she hadn't been in here since. All of her pictures and letters from Lee were here, scattered around and fading. One of the pictures had acquired several cobwebs. Drew picked it up and brushed the webs out of the way. There he was, one arm draped over Drew's shoulders. He was pointing off into the distance and they were laughing. It had been a long time since Drew had actually laughed. The only two people who had been able to make her laugh had been Lee and Selina. Now they were both dead, and it was Selina's fault. Drew ran her thumb over the outline of Lee's face.

Was it wrong for her to have feelings for Reyna, only a few short years after he had died? Would she be betraying his memory if she went with her feelings?

"Holy Hades, get your head out of your ass. It's been years, let it go."

Drew's head jerked up.

A man she didn't recognize was leaning casually against the wall. He was handsome, in a rugged, careless way. He was very tanned, with dark, shoulder-length, windswept hair. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt with a band name on it, ripped skinny jeans, and converse, giving him a punkish look.

"Who are you?" Drew asked.

"Not important. Aphrodite sent me to give you a message."

Drew scowled. "What does she want now?"

"Your quest is to kill the sirens. Apparently, they have been killing off too many of her...consorts."

Drew rolled her eyes.

"She also suggests that you take either Lacy or Mitchel as your third companion."

"That's cute. I will not do that. Any other suggestions from my dear mother?"

"Nope, that's about it."

"Great."

"I do have a word of advice though. From me, not your mother."

"What?"

"Lee was a great guy, really. You two were really cute together, but, as I said earlier, it's been years. You need to let it go. I know this is hugely stereotypical, but he would have wanted you to be happy. So stop moping around and go get that hot chick you are in love with before you miss the chance."

Before Drew could respond, he had disappeared, leaving behind only the faint scent of cigarettes.


	8. Reyna Isn't Great With Emotions

Reyna had mixed feelings about being pulled into this quest. On the one hand, she had been feeling restless lately. She had grown tired of hanging out at camp, waiting for the other Romans to finally decide to go back home. She also had wanted an opportunity to talk to Drew further. The Aphrodite girl was so mysterious, even more so after Reyna fought with her in the woods. Reyna wanted desperately to figure out what was going on in that girl's head.

On the other hand, she was angry. Aphrodite had no right to force Reyna, a Roman, to go on a quest. Especially not so soon after the war. She also felt bad for Drew. Based on her face last night, she wasn't very happy about this arrangement either.

Reyna was in her tent, packing up for the trip to who-knows-where.

Piper poked her head into the tent. "Reyna, I need to talk to you."

"What is it?"

"It's well..." Piper sat down, "it's about Drew."

"Well, you're going to be traveling with her, so I figured you should know. She normally comes across as really annoying and popular and heartless, but lately...not so much."

"Okay?"

"I think she's at a really vulnerable point in her life, so just try to help her, please."

Reyna sighed, "Alright, I'll do my best.

"Thanks. So what's the mission? Mom didn't really say."

"I don't know. I haven't even seen Drew since she ran off last night."

"Me neither."

Reyna strapped her dagger to the side of her leg and stood up. "Well, I'm going to go look for her. You better come out of the tent, Piper."

Piper and Reyna stepped out of a tent, and Reyna expertly collapsed it into her satchel.

"Good luck, Reyna."

"Bye, Piper." Reyna headed off in search of Drew.

Reyna had been looking for two hours. She stopped next to the Aphrodite cabin to take a quick break.

"Looking for Drew?" A boy, a child of Aphrodite that Reyna didn't know, asked, poking his head out of the cabin window.

"Yes. Do you happen to know where she could be?"

The boy shrugged, "Last I saw she was over there," he pointed at an outcropping of rocks a short distance from the cabin.

"Thanks."

"No problem, Reyna. Good luck on your quest." He gave her a thumbs up, then disappeared back into his cabin.

Reyna walked over to the rocks, hoping that Drew had left some sort of clue as to her whereabouts.

"Push the crevice right there."

Reyna's hand went to her sword, as she looked for the source of the voice.

A dark-haired man had appeared, sitting on the outcropping of rocks and pointing at a crevice.

"Why? Who are you?" Reyna demanded, her hand gripping the hilt of her sword.

The man just shrugged, "You wanted to see Drew Tanaka. She's in there. You're welcome." He mock-saluted and disappeared.

Reyna cautiously poked at the crevice the man had pointed out. Sure enough, an opening, barely large enough for the average person to fit through, appeared.

Reyna pulled out her sword, just to be careful, and squeezed through. It was a bit difficult, especially since she was trying to keep her sword handy at the same time, but she managed to make it.

Drew was facing away from her, looking intently at something. She looked like she had been crying.

Reyna cleared her throat, not sure what to do.

Drew didn't turn around, "If you're here to tell me to get off my ass again, I got the message."

"Alright, I'll just leave then."

Drew spun around, almost falling over. Her face was bright red. "Reyna! How did you find this place?"

"Someone gave me a heads up about how to get in here."

"Oh," Drew sighed, "So you came to tell me that we need to get going?"

"Well, that's what I came to say, but...are you okay?" Reyna looked around. Letters and pictures were scattered all over the floor, some torn, some with tear stains on them.

"Of course I am," Drew avoided her eyes as she stood up, "I need to pack before we can leave."

Reyna knelt down to pick up one of the pictures. A younger Drew was sitting next to a boy, his arm wrapped around her. They were laughing. Reyna couldn't remember a single time she'd seen Drew laugh.

"Who is this, Drew?"

Drew hesitated, staring at the picture in Reyna's hand. "I...just an old friend of mine." She started to climb out of the cave.

"How did he die?"

Drew looked like she was considering making a run for it, but instead, she spoke, facing away from Reyna. "He...he was killed fighting Kronos's army," her voice broke, "he didn't even get any decoration on his burial shroud."

Reyna put her hand on Drew's shoulder, making her flinch. They stood there in silence for a moment, then Drew took a deep breath.

"Thanks, Reyna." She climbed out of the cave, leaving Reyna standing alone in this cave of memories.


End file.
